Ticats can't bring pro soccer to Hamilton until lawsuits are settled: city

Soccer fans awaiting a pro team in Hamilton will have to wait a while longer.

The city decided Monday not to talk pro soccer with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats as long as there are lawsuits flying around Tim Hortons Field stadium.

City councillors voted Monday not to let the team renew its lapsed agreement to bring pro soccer to stadium, even though the team announced a new pro league in May.

That leaves the team with a professional soccer plan and nowhere to put it at least for the time being.

It's a bitter pill for soccer fans. But Coun. Matthew Green of Ward 3, whose area includes the stadium, says it has to happen.

"Until they renew the contract and until this lawsuit is complete, we're not in a position to move forward."

This is just the latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga of the new stadium.

Infrastructure Ontario hired the construction consortium Ontario Sports Solutions to build the stadium, which was months late opening, causing the Ticats to play nearly an entire season at McMaster University.

Even after it opened, issues dogged the project, including a speaker the size of a bar fridge plummeting and taking out about 30 seats. The city says it would have been "catastrophic" if people were sitting in them when it happened.

Legal actions were filed, in varying combinations, between the Ticats, the city, Ontario Sports Solutions, the Pan Am organizing committee and Infrastructure Ontario. Kenaidan Contracting Ltd., which was part of the consortium with Bouygues Building Canada, begged the city's forgiveness, but councillors still voted not to hire the firm for two years.

And it's not over. Rom D'Angelo, the city's head of facilities, said there's still a little over $1 million in work that needs to be completed. The city has just issued a tender for someone to do it.

As for soccer, the city's agreement with the Ticats gave the team exclusive rights to bring professional soccer to Hamilton. But that's lapsed in May 2016, and the city and team would have to negotiate again.

Despite this, Ticats caretaker Bob Young announced a new Canadian Premier League (CPL) in May that would feature a Hamilton team.

"Today is an historic day for soccer fans, aka footie followers, in our country," Young wrote.

"We will now have our own league to cheer for and for our kids to aspire to play for."

The names Hamilton Steelers and Hamilton United have been trademarked. The proposed league is a Tier 1 FIFA-sanctioned league. Ten other cities are interested in a team, the league says.

Sam Merulla, Ward 4 councillor, moved Monday to "refrain from doing any business with the Tiger-Cats related to soccer at Tim Hortons Field until such time that the current litigation is resolved."

City council will vote to ratify that on Friday.

The Ticats have not yetresponded to requests for comment.

samantha.craggs@cbc.ca | @SamCraggsCBC